Green Spain, as it's often known, offers images very different from those of Mediterranean Spain: lush forests and deep-green valleys, soaring high mountain scenery, and Spain's most dramatic coastline, with fiords and giant cliffs – as well as exquisite beaches – facing the Atlantic surf.
The north has some of Spain's most special cultures, in Celtic Galicia and the unique ways of the Basques, and remarkable architecture, from early Christian chapels to Bilbao's modern Museo Guggenheim. And it has superb food, whether harbourside seafood or refined Basque cuisine, and many of Spain's finest wines.
The greenest and wettest region of all, Galicia, just north of Portugal, has always lived a little apart from the rest of Spain. At its heart is fascinating Santiago de Compostela. A focus for pilgrims since the early Middle Ages, the city is centred on a magnificent Gothic cathedral. To the west the coast is broken up by the Rías Baixas, beautiful fiord-like inlets lined by fine beaches and picturesque fishing villages. Just to the north is the Costa da Morte, an awesome stretch of wild, rocky coast so-named because of the many ships wrecked here over centuries.
Inland, Galicia has a soft green landscape of hills, woods, remote-feeling, utterly tranquil villages and charming towns lost in the past. Loveliest of all are the exquisite valleys of the Miño and Ribeiro region, winding, sometimes extraordinarily steep clefts that produce excellent wines to go with Galicia's celebrated fish and seafood.
Straddling the border between these two regions, the Picos de Europa form one of Spain's most spectacular mountain ranges, a knot of towering summits between plunging gorges and valleys sheltering idyllic mountain villages. A paradise for walkers and climbers, coloured by dazzling sprays of gentians and narcissi, the Cantabrian mountains are also home to some of Europe's rarest wildlife, such as chamois and brown bears.
The two regions offer the north coast's best beaches along the Costa Verde, in fine arching bays between red-roofed villages and massive cliffs topped by verdant meadows. Their long human history has left many treasures too, such as the pre-Romanesque churches of Oviedo or extraordinary Santillana del Mar – almost a whole town of 16th-century mansions. Just nearby are the Cuevas de Altamira, with some of the greatest prehistoric cave paintings in the world.
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